Granny Flat and Backyard Studio Design Ideas and Photos

Second dwellings that add real value — siting, privacy, services, light and the layouts that work for family, guests, work or rental. A second dwelling in the backyard is the most practical small building most people will ever construct. It houses a parent, an adult child, a guest, a home office or a tenant, and it does so on land already owned and already serviced. The design challenge is not the building, which is simple, but the relationship between it and the main house — privacy, outlook, access and noise all have to be resolved on the site plan. Siting decides success. Position the studio so its main windows do not look directly into the existing bedrooms, give it its own small piece of private outdoor space rather than a share of the family yard, and provide access that does not require walking past the main living room windows. A separate path down the side boundary, a screen of planting between the two buildings, and a clear front door with its own number make the dwelling feel independent. Plan for one thing done well. A studio layout with a kitchenette along one wall, a bathroom in the corner, a bed...

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Home Designs

Contemporary Family Home Design with Board-Formed Concrete and Wide Front Entry Court, Feature Water

Contemporary Family Home Design with Board-Formed Concrete, Spotted Gum Battens and Matte Black Steel Detailing, Mass-Planted Hedging, Feature Palms and. this image created by www.homedesign-photos.com — Contemporary Family Home Design with Board-Formed Concrete, Spotted Gum Battens and Matte Black Steel Detailing, Mass-Planted Hedging, Feature Palms and Deep Mulched Garden Beds, featuring a Wide Front Entry Court, Feature Water Bowl and Garage Screening

Futuristic Backyard Concept 22 is part of our Home Designs collection — one of 512 large-format widescreen concept visuals in this section. It is presented here at full size so you can study the layout, the planting, the surfaces and the way light falls across the design before you commit to building anything on your own block.

Front yards, backyards, side boundaries and complete house concepts, including the tiny home series. Use this concept as a starting point: note the proportions between built form and greenery, where shade and shelter sit, how paths and paved areas move people through the space, and which materials repeat to hold the whole scheme together.

Every visual on this site is a design idea created for Home Design Photos. Browse the rest of the Home Designs collection, or open the complete image catalogue to see every home, garden, pool, pergola, furniture, lighting and beach house concept in one place.

← Split-Level Modern Home Design with Recycled Brick and Spacious Rear Backyard and BBQ Grill Warm Minimalist House Design with Eco Friendly Materials and Sunken Firepit Lounge and Generous →

More Home Designs concepts

Contemporary Family Home Design with Board-Formed Concrete and Wide Front Entry Court, Feature Water

Contemporary Family Home Design with Board-Formed Concrete, Spotted Gum Battens and Matte Black Steel Detailing, Mass-Planted Hedging, Feature Palms and Deep Mulched Garden Beds, featuring a Wide Front Entry Court, Feature Water Bowl and Garage Screening

Low-Line Courtyard Home Design with Textured Off-White Render and Covered Alfresco Dining Terrace

Low-Line Courtyard Home Design with Textured Off-White Render, Travertine Paving and Smoked Glass Balustrades, Layered Native Planting and a Clipped Buffalo Lawn, featuring a Covered Alfresco Dining Terrace and Built-In Outdoor Kitchen, finished with Sculptural Feature Planting and Inviting

Contemporary Family Home Design with Board-Formed Concrete and Wide Front Entry Court, Feature Water

Split-Level Modern Home Design with Recycled Brick and Spacious Rear Backyard and BBQ Grill

Split-Level Modern Home Design with Recycled Brick, Vertical Cedar Screening and Zinc Roof Sheeting, Espaliered Trees, Box Hedging and Fine-Leaf Groundcover, featuring a Spacious Rear Backyard and BBQ Grill Entertaining Area, balanced by Clean Sightlines, Shaded Retreats and Relaxed

Contemporary Family Home Design with Board-Formed Concrete and Wide Front Entry Court, Feature Water

Architectural Home Design with Limestone Cladding and Poolside Cabana, Sun Deck and Evening Entertaining

Architectural Home Design with Limestone Cladding, Warm Oak Soffits and Slim Charcoal Aluminium Frames, Tropical Foliage, Frangipani and Screening Bamboo, featuring a Poolside Cabana, Sun Deck and Evening Entertaining Zone, balanced by Clean Sightlines, Shaded Retreats and Relaxed Family

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Mediterranean Villa Home and Garden Design Ideas and Photos

Lime render, terracotta, olive trees and gravel courtyards — the warm, shaded, waterwise style that suits hot dry climates better than any other.

Mediterranean design is a climate response that happens to be beautiful. Thick walls and small openings on the hot side, deep loggias and pergolas for shade, pale lime washed render to reflect heat, courtyards that trap cool air, terracotta and stone underfoot, and planting that survives long dry summers. Every element earns its place practically, which is why the style still looks right after centuries.

The materials are unpolished and generous. Textured lime or sand finish render rather than flat acrylic, terracotta or clay tile roofs, stone thresholds and window surrounds, chunky timber lintels and shutters, wrought or blackened metal for gates and rails, and floors in terracotta, travertine or tumbled limestone. Imperfection is part of the language, so avoid dead flat surfaces and machine perfect joints — they read as a shopping centre rather than a villa.

Outdoor rooms carry the plan. A shaded loggia along the main elevation doing the work of a hallway, a gravel courtyard with a central tree or fountain, a vine covered pergola over the long table, and a pool positioned as a still rectangle framed by hedging and cypress. Water appears as a wall spout into a trough, or a simple bowl, rather than as a feature demanding attention.

Mediterranean Style design ideas photo from the Mediterranean Villa Home and Garden Design Ideas and Photos feature. this image created by www.homedesign-photos.com

Planting is the most waterwise palette available. Olive, fig, citrus and pomegranate for canopy and fruit; rosemary, lavender, santolina and cistus for structure and scent; grapes and jasmine on the pergola; pots of pelargonium and herbs at every doorway. Gravel mulch, drip irrigation, and a bias toward silver and grey green foliage that looks cool in heat. The result is a garden that peaks in the hottest months, when most other styles are struggling.

House Design Photos is a HUGE Library Gallery and Directory of Home Design Photos

Granny Flat and Backyard Studio Design Ideas and Photos

Contemporary Family Home Design with Board-Formed Concrete and Wide Front Entry Court, Feature Water

More Home Designs concepts

Mediterranean Villa Home and Garden Design Ideas and Photos